Satanism and Self-Love
By Rachel
Sect of the Horned God Member
Growing up in a Protestant home, with a grandmother who was very devout in her beliefs (I will never forget her warning me about the “Dogans”), I will always remember the guilt that followed me around as a child. There was guilt attached to everything. Don’t do this because you’ll go to Hell, don’t do that because it’s a sin. I wasn’t allowed to own a Marilyn Manson CD until I was 18, because my mother watched a segment on the news that showed him ripping up a bible onstage. (Thanks to Napster and the wonders of the internet, that didn’t deter me from getting my black-polished claws on a copy of “Smells Like Children.”)
Guilt placed on a child is very damaging, especially on those who already have a predisposition to be anxious and depressed, like I was. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 16-going-on-17, but the pressure to conform and the guilt of being unable to leaves a lasting impression. I like to akin it to Dexter’s Dark Passenger. That little mocking, condescending, nagging voice that cuts you and reinforces your feeling of insignificancy. “God doesn’t love little girls who don’t listen to their mother.” “Suicidal thoughts mean you’re not right with Christ. Pray on it.”
Eventually, some part shuts down, shuts off. Life greyed over, I fell more into my listlessness and my apathy, and blamed myself. That indifference lent itself to alcohol and substance abuse and cutting. I tried to talk to a couple of friends about this, and in return I received an indignant speech about how if I killed myself, I’d go to Hell. Adults around me were just as indignant and unhelpful.
Feeling separate from my friends, I spent many long nights on the internet. I don’t remember how exactly I stumbled upon Anton LaVey. This was before the days of Google, so who’s to say? I ended up on the Church of Satan website, and I devoured the entire thing from entrance page to fine print.
I had never heard or encountered anything quite like it. Getting my hands on the Satanic Bible was a bit tricky… living in the Bible Belt of BC, I couldn’t just walk into the library or the local bookstore and ask for it. One of my best friends at the time lived in Mississauga, and she sent me a copy she had found in a shop.
I always call the reading of The Satanic Bible my “first act of self-love.” Through reading The Satanic Bible, I came to understand that the reason I was so miserable, the reason that I was struggling was because I was in denial of pretty much everything – my nature, my happiness, exercising my true potential and becoming the best version of myself. I allowed the guilt imposed on me to control me, and the moment I realized that and accepted it, I was free of it.
The Satanic philosophy allowed me to take control of my life, and empowered me to open up my eyes and live fully. Applying this philosophy to my life has given me success and happiness, and I feel vital and alive. I am not a LaVeyan, but I like to think that LaVey opened the door and booted my ass through it. Did Satanism save my life? Absolutely not. It gave me the tools and the knowledge to save myself.
What is the importance of the Left Hand Path?
By Zelzaa Crowley
There are many out there who claim to be satanist but are not truly on the Left Hand Path. I would venture to say that many of them do not even truly know what it is. Being on the Left Hand Path is a journey towards self-deification.
BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
All gods and goddesses are truly creations of mankind. We are our own God and our own devil. Satanism uses satan as a symbol of the carnality of man and our obligation and duty to serve ourselves first. Why would I want to surrender myself and deny all of my natural urges for the sake of another being?
If all gods and religions were truly formed and invented by men anyway, and they were, then why not make a god from myself and exalt and glorify myself. After all, I am the most imporant person in my world.
But in order for me to realize a place where I am worthy of such self-deification I must first free myself from the bondage of past thought and dogma and free my thinking to follow after my own desires and serve myself since I am god of my own world. This then involves acknowledging my own desires instead of abstaining from them. For instance, if I want sex instead of abstaining from it or, worse, partaking and then beating myself up for it, I will just simply fulfill my desire without any guilt or condemnation since I am god of my own world and I create the rules by my own desires.
I believe this is truly what is meant by self-deification. Rather than serving another being, I am serving myself and pandering to my own needs and desires first. I am ruling my own world as a god. This can only be done after one has abandoned all faith and hope in serving or believing in any other god.
It is through ritual that we come to terms with our own emotion and desires. It is through study and meditation that we come to understand these things.
The invocations of Satan do not bring some outside, powerful, demonic force into us. No. It simply awakens the black flame of individuality inside of us and brings us to terms with the “dark side” of our own natures. This is truly the essence of the LHP. I am my own god. What the religious world has declared “evil” and “sin” or “satanic” I embrace as a part of my nature and no one can condemn me for it because I am not bound by their dogmatic BS. I am my own god and I am my own devil. Coming to terms with that is the path to self-deification. Ave
Down the rabbit hole
By Dimitri
[For in a republic, who is “the Country”? Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. Who, then, is “the Country”? Is it the newspaper? is it the pulpit? Is it the school superintendent? Why, these are mere parts of the country, not the whole of it; they have not command, they have only their little share in the command. They are but one in a thousand; it is in the thousand that command is lodged; they must determine what is right and what is wrong; they must decide who is a patriot and who isn’t.
Who are the thousand–that is to say, who are “the Country”? In a monarchy, the king and his family are the country; in a republic it is the common voice of the people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn’t. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide on way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country–hold up your head. You have nothing to be ashamed of.
– “Papers of the Adam Family” ]
Do you recognize this quote? It has been featured in the Marvel franchise of “Captain America” (Civil war) in an albeit slightly changed setting.
CA transcript:
[“Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right.
This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — “No, YOU move.”
― J. Michael Straczynski, Civil War: The Amazing Spider-Man ]
In and in itself the initial quote sounds as a patriotic cry. Slightly negativist yet it passes on messages which shouldn’t be forgotten by those walkers among the LHP:
– To remain firm in ones decision (no matter the cost and opposition)
– To take pride in the way which is being walked
– To be confident.
The path is solitary and hard when it is being properly walked. There are no safeguards nor nets to prevent oneself falling into rock-bottom (unless you’ve foreseen them YOURSELF).
Within this small piece of text “The country” can be substituted by “The LHP” or “Satanism”. The message will remain the same: there are no certainties or authority except your own duties and sense of responsibility. You are, as always, on your own. Your only compatriots are your confidence and the duty to uphold your own. This is what the second part of Straczynski’s quote implies. Nothing more and nothing less.
The Orders of The Sect of the Horned God
